Juvenile Red Wings cruise to OMHA quarter-finals

February 4, 2015 · 0 Comments

Calvin McHugh is stopped in close by the Newcastle goaltender in Schomberg’s 5-4 OT win in Juvenile playoff action Saturday.
Photo by Jake Courtepatte

By Jake Courtepatte
It was a tense atmosphere in the Trisan Centre Saturday afternoon as the Juvenile Red Wings looked to take a stranglehold on their first-round match up with the Newcastle Stars.
After exchanging wins in each of their own home rinks, both teams were clearly searching for the edge in what would turn out to be a nail-biter.
Up 2-0 mid-way through the game on goals from Austin Maggiacomo and Dylan Fitzgibbon, goaltender Ryan McLaughlin was finally beaten on a wild scramble in front of the Schomberg net.
Although Dan Giglio was able to find twine only a few minutes later on a rebound, the Schomberg offence was shut down for an extended period of time.
With time running out in the second and the Red Wings on the penalty-kill for the first time all game, a deflected puck snuck through the five-hole of McLaughlin to lower the deficit to 3-2.
The Wings’ special teams kept taking a beating just one minute into the third, as the Stars completed their comeback shorthanded to tie the game at three.
Tom Fortin had a chance to put Schomberg back on top, making a nice deke around a defenceman one-on-one before going five-hole on the Stars goalie. The puck found a hole, but deflected just wide.
One minute later, a mad scramble in front of the Schomberg net left the puck sitting on the goal line unnoticed by any Red Wings players. The Stars tapped it in for their first lead of the game.
Putting on the pressure trying to find the tying goal, the Wings aimed shot after shot at the Newcastle net. Finally, with 2:33 left on the clock, a Tristan Berry shot from the point found its way through traffic and past a screened goalie to send the game to overtime.
It was Giglio again in the extra frame, making a nice move to put the puck through a defender’s stick before wristing it home from the top of the slot.
The 5-4 overtime victory had the Wings in position to end the best-of-five series.
With momentum on their side, the Red Wings stepped back onto Newcastle’s home ice the next day and promptly disposed of the series with a 2-0 shutout victory.
The Juveniles will be getting a well-earned rest for a few weeks before facing off against the Loyalist Jets in the quarter-final series. Interestingly enough, the Wings defeated the Jets in last month’s Silver Stick tournament in Sarnia to take the tournament championship.
The Jets will be looking to exact some revenge on the team that finished second in YSMHL standings this year.